U.S. justification for sanctions 'far-fetched' - Russian Federation

Norman Tucker

Trump has repeatedly come under fire from lawmakers, including from his own Republican Party, for his conciliatory statements on Russian Federation, particularly at his joint news conference with Putin at their summit in Helsinki last month where he appeared to doubt USA intelligence conclusions that Russian Federation intervened in the 2016 election.

"The sides discussed a number of issues of the global agenda, including the situation in Syria, and other topics that were in focus of a meeting between the Russian Federation and U.S. presidents on July 16 in Helsinki", the ministry said, adding that the conversation was initiated by the USA side. This is out of the question. The department accused Russian Federation of violating the global law through its use of the lethal chemical weapon. The Russian embassy said Moscow continued to advocate for an open and transparent investigation into the poisoning. "So linking these events is unacceptable to us, and just as with previous USA sanctions we believe are absolutely illegal and against worldwide law", Peskov told reporters.

The United States Wednesday, August 8, announced that it will impose new sanctions against Russian Federation in "the case of the Violin". These include a potential moratorium on national carrier flights to the United States and an nearly complete import ban.

The U.S. will also ban Russian Federation from receiving U.S. weapons or military technology and financial assistance.

With those possible exemptions in mind, the State Department estimated the value of the new sanctions could "reach potentially hundreds of millions of dollars".

"If those criteria are not met, it is up to Russian Federation to make that decision, a second round of sanctions ... will [have] to be imposed", the official said.

Sanctions waivers were in place for certain key sectors, including space flight activities and commercial aviation safety, the official said.

"Total illegitimacy of such actions from the point of view of worldwide law has been underlined", the statement said.

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Mr Putin, himself a former KGB spy, said earlier this month Mr Skripal would have been dead if he was attacked with a weapons-grade agent. He was imprisoned in Russian Federation, but was exchanged with Britain in a 2010 spy swap.

Distrust between the two countries has spiked amid Russia's renewed aggressiveness on the world stage, starting with the annexation of Crimea in 2014 and Moscow's subsequent interference in the 2016 US presidential election.

Three months after the Salisbury attack, two other people fell ill at a house in Amesbury, about eight miles from the city. One of them, Dawn Sturgess, died eight days later.

After tests, scientists at the UK's military research lab, Porton Down, found the couple had also been exposed to Novichok.

President Trump met with Putin at a summit in Helsinki, Finland, in July, and was widely criticized by both Democrats and Republicans alike who accused Mr. Trump of being too conciliatory to Putin. Russian Federation had criticised the sanctions as "categorically unacceptable", reported CBS News.

The White House said Trump provided "a letter of introduction" at Paul's request, and that the president "mentioned topics of interest that Senator Paul wanted to discuss with President Putin".

Russian Federation has denied any involvement in the Skripals' poisoning and also the subsequent death of a British woman, Dawn Sturgess, after she was exposed to the agent.

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